How Jadon Sancho, Gerard Pique and Frenkie de Jong use WhatsApp for banter, transfers and even buying cars

Whether it's friendly banter between rivals at Barcelona and Real Madrid or coaches telling their star players what time training is on, footballers around the world are using free messaging service WhatsApp to start a conversation

By Jon Boon

14th May 2019, 7:00 am

WHEN Frenkie de Jong told his teammates he was moving to Barcelona for £65m in January, he chose to deliver that news using modern technology.

THE GOOD

Gerard Pique uses WhatsApp to share banter with his rivals at Real Madrid

WhatsApp launched in 2009, and has gone on to become one of the biggest apps in the world.

It allows the user to connect with their contacts by texting and calling for free, as long as they're connected to Wi-fi, anywhere in the globe.

Currently being used by over one and a half billion people in countries as far as Brazil and India, Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg understood its worth and bought the company for around £15billion in 2014.

It wasn't long before the football world cottoned on and started using it. “We get team news from the manager if our training time has changed,” de Jong explained.

“And if there’s a match that everyone’s watching, people talk about it.”

Pique, 32, revealed he made a group for players on the Spanish national team who play for Barcelona or their bitter rivals Real Madrid.

He wrote on The Players' Tribune: "All we do in that group is talk s*** to one another about Barça and Real. It’s the best.

"Last season, when Real’s guys were winning everything, they were feeling pretty good.

"They were just talking s*** constantly. This season, though, it’s a different vibe – their Instagram photos are looking sombre.

"So, I’m texting them in the WhatsApp group: ‘Come on, why so serious?!’ Then I put a crying emoji and a laughing emoji."

All we do in that group is talk s*** to one another about Barça and Real. It’s the best."

Gerard Pique

BUYING CARS

When it comes to shopping for a new motor, footballers want it easy. And that's where WhatsApp comes into play.

Premier Sports Solution car dealer Richard Clark has sold cars to the likes of Jack Wilshere, Oliver Giroud and Callum Wilson, and he revealed how players like to business done.

CHELSEA'S LOANERS

Chelsea's on-loan striker Tammy Abraham can keep in touch with his Blues mates in a WhatsApp group

When you're a professional club, and you have players out on loan, it's always hard to keep track on how everyone is doing.

That's why the Blues have a WhatsApp group set up specifically for their promising stars of tomorrow.

“It’s designed to help all players feel part of the same process,” Eddie Newton, Chelsea's loan technical coach, said.

“We have a lot of players out on loan. These youngsters are big products for the club and we are regularly monitoring their progress and their games.

"The group helps everyone to stay closer together regardless of where they are playing. It’s a big help.

“It’s used after games, if players have scored or won man of the match. A lot of these players have grown up together and know each other well, so they feel really comfortable using this kind of platform.

"We’ll have our say as well, if we want to get a message through to them. This is a massive tool for us and it’s proving to be a big success.”

We have a lot of players out on loan. These youngsters are big products for the club and we are regularly monitoring their progress and their games. The group helps everyone to stay closer together regardless of where they are playing. It’s a big help."

The former Man United legend was apparently unhappy to see the two internationals sitting out training with injuries, and was said to have called Arter a "p****" and a "c***", while he reportedly told Walters: "You’re getting soft, it’s no wonder (Sean) Dyche doesn’t play ya."

That story only came to the public's attention after a WhatsApp voice note recorded on Burnley star Stephen Ward's mobile was leaked on social media.

In his book How To Be A Footballer, Peter Crouch spoke about the demoralising feeling he felt when he was dropped by England and then the players' WhatsApp group.

“The England senior squad has its own group with its own brutal logic," he wrote.

"Get called up and you are added; get dropped and suddenly the message is on everybody’s phone: ‘Peter Crouch has left this group’.”
Tragically, the final words of Emiliano Sala were also captured on the messaging service before his plane fatally crashed on route to Cardiff.

GIRL TALK

Last month, we reported how Premier League stars are participating in a WhatsApp game where points are awarded for performing degrading sex acts on unsuspected partners.

Footballers could score the points for slapping or spitting on conquests, while filming their romps and sharing them with a group of other players.

Shamed paedophile Adam Johnson, who was found guilty of sexual activity with a 15-year-old, as well as child grooming in 2016, had also used the app to send 834 messages to his victim, according to the prosecution.

And Sao Paulo star Daniel Correa Freitas, who was found dead in a bush with his throat slit and genitals cut off last October, had sent messages on WhatsApp to his pals in bed with a blonde woman.

It was alleged he was murdered by the woman's husband who had caught his wife cheating.